Thanks so much to the Opinio Juris folks for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful symposium. Ben's book truly is indispensable -- a must-read for all those interested in these important topics. In particular, Ben's descriptions of the difficult questions, and his narrative of how we got to this unfortunate point with respect to many of them,...
In a similar vein as Peter and Peggy before me, I want to mine two of Ben's premises: that we are in a new kind of war and that this needs a new kind of law. I do agree in part with Ben on each of these-- I think we are facing conflict of a different sort than we have before and I also think...
Peggy and Peter, with slightly different emphases, both criticize me for focusing too narrowly on domestic legal policy. As Peggy puts it, by doing so, I "implicitly endorse the notion that the U.S. is unique in its experience of terrorism and the challenge of crafting laws to address it." It's a point worth addressing explicitly. The United States is not the first...
First, thanks to all for the great opening posts, and more broadly to Chris, Peggy, and the whole Opinio Juris crew for welcoming me into the fold. I’m delighted to join such a dynamic forum, and very much look forward to our exchanges ahead. Ben suggests as a central topic to kick of this week’s discussion a broad structural question: “Does...
I'm not surprised that Ben (as one of the new foreign policy pragmatists) says he's amenable to international law as part of an anti-terror answer (assuming that that a legal fix of any description is necessary -- I hope we'll hear from Deborah Pearlstein with her argument that we don't need to change international law, either). But it's...
I had planned to lurk on the sidelines until the discussion of Ben's fascinating book moved to the "need" for a new interrogation statute -- I, for one, am more than happy to have "interrogation laws that operate only at the highest altitude (nothing cruel or inhumane, nothing that causes severe pain or suffering) but never come down to earth,"...
Thanks to Chris and his colleagues at OJ for giving me an opportunity to participate in this important discussion. Today we're focused on broad premises underlying the book, and in particular the utility of using the concept of war in connection with counterterrorism policy. Peggy's most recent post critiques the Bush Administration's emphasis on the war model, concluding that "the framing of...
Peter makes two points, one with which I largely agree, the other with which I disagree. Agreement first: I have no doubt that the structures we create to fight terrorism have to be reconcilable not only with the American constitutional tradition but with international law as well. While I am skeptical that a meeting of the minds between American and European...
I will join the chorus of praise for this terrific book. But I want to add briefly to Peter’s critique of Ben’s premise that the current threat from transnational terrorism has us in a “long war,” by looking at what this means for broader foreign policy – one that encompasses, but it is not driven by, domestic legal policy. The book correctly,...
This is a great book and there's a lot to chew on here. By way of taking up Ben's opening volley, I have two general thoughts: 1) things may need some fixing, but not necessarily at the foundational level framed in the book, and 2) to the extent things do need fixing, international law has to be in the picture. The first point...
Let me start by thanking Chris for hosting this discussion, of which I'm delighted to be a part, and by thanking as well all of those who are participating. It really is a wonderful group, and I'm excited about the coming exchange. I wrote Law and the Long War out of a sense of frustration with the debate that has developed over...
We are pleased to host this week a discussion of Benjamin Wittes’ book Law and the Long War. Ben's book is a comprehensive analysis of how September 11th did--and did not--change National Security Law, the disparate group of legal mechanisms related to counter-terrorism. It is also about what the role of law in counter-terrorism should be. It is a book that is sure...
